Process of producing yokes for draft-rigging



1. W. DALMAN.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING YOKES FOR DRAFT RIGGING.

APPLICAIION FILED NOV. 18, 1918.

\ 1,340,528, Patented May 18, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H O amoemto'c W n/55 g 7 JOHN W. DALMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING YOKES FOR DRAFT-RIGGING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 18, 1920.

Application filed November 18, 1918. Serial No. 263,054.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN WV. DALMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Processes of Producing Yokes for Draft-Rigging, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact de scription.

This invention relates to a process of making a yoke for the draft rigging of railway cars.

At the present time draft rigging yokes are most commonly constructed of cast steel notwithstanding the fact that forged metal is recognized as possessing superior reliability for these yokes- The cast steel has been employed in the manufacture of draft rigging yokes for the reason mainly that the castings can be made of such form and with the metal so disposed as to obtain the necessary cross section for strength at all parts of the yoke without waste of material caused by using superfluous metal at any point. Yokes of cast steel when made in the form known as hooded yokes, are shaped in such manner that the end parts of the yoke are turned at right angles to the central part which embraces the draft rigging, the turned sections forming hoods which embrace the end of the draw-bar and are secured thereto by means of a key. In designing these yokes it is common to give a sub stantially uniform cross-section al area to the structure from end to end, with the result of imparting the necessary strength without undue waste of material. Nothwithstanding the fact that there are certain recognized advantages which arise from the capacity to make cast steel yokes of uniform strength and crosssectional area through out, thus obviating waste, it is well known that in a few instances railroad oliicials have demanded forged steel yokes on account of the greater reliability of forged metal as compared with cast metal. While it is true that a perfect steel casting gives satisfactory service, it is also true that flaws are always liable to be present in castings, while properly made forgings are entirely free from such flaws and may be made as nearly absolutely reliable as is possible with metal structures. Where for instance, forged steel yokes are demanded, in many cases the yokes have consisted merely of a rectangular strip of forged steel bent upon itself to embrace the draft rigging and provided at the ends with rivet holes for receiving the rivets which pass through the ends of the yoke and the shank of the draw-bar. These forged steel yokes are not of the hooded form and the metal which is removed to form the rivet holes results in proportionately weakening the ends of the yokes. has been found necessary to use a forged steel strip sufiiciently wide and thick to preserve the necessary cross-sectional area at the ends where the rivet holes are formed. This results in an excess of metal in the remainder of the yoke, thereby increasing its cost beyond what would be necessary if the yoke were formed with a substantially uniform cross section from end to end.

Some attempts have been made to form draft rigging yokes of forged steel in which the ends of the yokes are formed as hoods, but in all of these instances of which I am aware, the yoke has either been defective as not possessing the necessary strength to withstand all of the strain which may be imposed upon the yoke on one side, as in going around curves, or else the process has been so expensive as to prevent its adoption on the grounds of economy of production. Under the process described hereinafter, I have found it possible to produce forged steel yokes in which the main body portion of the yoke is of such cross section as to successfully resist strains which are applied thereto, and at the same time the hooded ends of the yoke have the necessary cross section to provide all the strength necessary to meet the strains when the entire pull'falls on either side of the yoke, as when the train of cars is going around a curve. The process involves the employment of a minimum number of steps to produce a draft rigging yoke having the necessary qualities of strength, as hereinbefore mentioned, and additionally produces an article which is superior in the respects noted and further more wherein the overlapping wings forming the yoke are provided with interlocking means which prevents relative movement of such wings upon each other in a direction transverseto the longitudinal axis ofthe yoke.

These, and other important advantages will be better understood from the following description, when considered in connec- For this reason it tion with the accompanying drawings illustratlng the successlve steps of the process and a completed article made by the process, and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a steel bar constituting the blank from which the draft yoke is made;

Fig. 2 is a side edge view of the blank;

Fig. is an end edge view thereof;

Fig. 4 shows the blank after its central portion has been narrowed by pressure, producing the relatively wide end portions;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of Fig. l;

Fig. 6 shows the blank with its end slitted;

Fig. 7 Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 illustrates the blank with the slitted ends spread and arranged parallel;

Fig. 9 illustrates the blank with the spread ends, or wings, and formed with the key openings, certain of said openings be ing provided with inwardly extending flanges;

Fig. 10 is a plan view of the bar bent upon itself to form the completed yoke;

Fig. 11 is a side elevation of Fig. 10; and

Fig. 12 is an end view, partly sectional, of the completed yoke. looking toward the hooded portion.

The steel bar shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, is originally provided of a thickness agreeing with that of the finished wings forming the hooded sections of the yoke, said bar being of a length which is slightly less than the length of the finished yoke. Starting with such bar 1., the first step in the process consists in reducing the bar in width at the part 3 and at the same time making it thicker so that the cross-section of that part of the bar which surrounds the draft gear will be that which is desired. This step may be performed either by forging the bar out under a hammer. in a hydraulic press, or by rolling the part of the bar which is to be narrowed and thickened between rollers. under either of which procedures it will be is a cross section on the line 77,

seen the length of the original blank 1 is extended to the desired amount to form a draft rigging coupler yoke of the proper length. As shown in Fig. 5. the intermediate portion of the blank at this stage is considerably thicker than the relatively widened end portions 5. which latte are to form the hoods. and have the same thickness as that of the original blank. The ends of the blank 1 are then cut inwardly. as indicated at 4. in Fig. 6, no more metal being removed in making these cuts than is absolutely necessary. The blank as thus formed is then placed between suitable dies, as the dies of a bulldozer of known construction. but having the dies so shaped as to cause the ends of the blank to be widened apart, thus producing the wings 6, 6, which are formed in parallelism with thecentral part 3, either by the same operation that effects the spreading apart of the end portions, or by a subsequent operation, as desired. The dies which spread apart the wings 6 of the blank are shaped to give the necessary exterior contour and the requisite interior contour to the blank in order to prepare it for the subsequent bending of the bifurcated ends at right angles to form the complete hood. As shown in Fig. 9, the wings 6 are then formed with key openings 5, such openings at the upper left hand end of the blank, as shown in Fig. 9, and at the lower right hand end thereof being made larger than the finished slots or openings in order to accommodate flanges 7, which are bent inwardly from the openings formed in each wing which is adjacent to the wing containing the larger opening 5. As shown best in Fig. 12, the inwardly projecting flanges? from alternate wings are arranged to enter the relatively enlarged openings 5, thus causing the wings, which are bent at right angles to the main body of the bar, and ex tend downwardly therefrom, to interlock with the wings which are bent at right angles from the other end of the bar, and e):- tend upwardly therefrom. all as shown in Fig. 12. It will also be seen that each of the outside wings, forming; the hood, is provided with an offset 11, for the purpese of permitting the overlapping of the hood members on opposite sides of the yoke.

The wings 6, constituting the hood, a

each end of the yoke are bent at right angles to the main body portion 3, subse quently to the operation of forming the key openings 5, certain of which openings have the inwardly projecting flanges 7 for entering the enlarged openings 5 on the opposite wings. Consequently when the wings are thus bent at right angles to the body of the yoke, the flanges will enter such enlarged openings, causing the described interlocking of the wings. The combined thicknessof the overlapping wings forming the hood is such on each side of the hood as to offer suiiicient strength to withstand the pullin strains when all of such strains are applied to one side of the yoke, that is, when the cars are going around curves. The body portion 3 of the yoke is also formed of the rerpiisite thickness to provide sufficient strength. to meet all strains which are applied to the yoke. when such body is thickened by pressure applied to such part, thisstep in the process resulting'in' simultaneously thickening the central part of the yoke and rendering said portion relatively narrower than the ends 5 in order that the latter may be subsequently bifurcated, and formed into wings constitutingthe hooded ends of the yoke, as above described.

This application is a continuation in part of my co-pending application Serial No. 243,802, filed July 8, 1918.

The construction of draft yoke shown and described herein isnot claimed in this application. Certain features of such construction are claimed in application Serial No. 363,25 l, filed by me, March 4, 1920, which is a continuation in part of the present application.

It is obvious that the process is not necessarily confined to the precise order of steps heretofore described, but that such steps may be varied so far as not inconsistent with the scope of the following claims, without departing from the invention, or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A process of constructing an integral hooded coupler yoke from forged metal, comprising providing a blank shorter than the finished yoke and of a thickness equal to that of the finished wings forming the hooded sections, reducing the blank in width and correspondingly increasing it in thickness between the ends, cutting the blank inwardly from each end upon the longitudinal center thereof to form hood sections, spreading said sections outwardly from the longitudinal center of the blank, bending said sections through substantially ninety degrees upon lines parallel to said axis, and forming key openings near the ends of said sections.

2. A process of constructing an integral hooded coupler yoke from forged metal comprising providing a blank of a thickness equal to the finished wings forming the hooded sections, reducing the blank by pressure applied intermediate its ends to decrease its width and increase its thickness sufliciently to withstand the strains to which it is subjected when in use, thereby producing widened ends, bifurcating said ends, spreading the wings or sections outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the blank, bending said sections through substantially ninety degrees upon lines parallel with said axis, and forming key openings near the ends of said sections.

3. A process of constructing an integral hooded coupler yoke from forged metal, comprising providing a blank of a thickness equal to the thickness of the finished wings forming the hood sections, applying pressure to that portion of the blank intermediate said sections to diminish the width thickness so that the part of the yoke which surrounds the draft gear will be of the desired cross-section, cutting said blank inwardly from each end from the longitudinal center thereof to form hood sections, spreading said sections outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the blank and deflecting the end parts of the sections in substantial parallelism with said axis, bending said sections angularly to form overlapping hood sections, and forming key openings in said sections.

4:. A process of constructing an integral coupler yoke from forged metal comprising providing a suitable blank, applying pressure to a portion of the blank intermediate its ends to reduce said portion in width and correspondingly increase the thickness thereof to produce the desired cross-section of the portion which surrounds the draft gear, dividing the blank inwardly from each end upon the longitudinal center thereof to form hood sections, spreading said sections outwardly from the longitudinal axis of said blank, deflecting the end parts of said sections into substantial parallelism with said axis, bending said sections through substantially ninety degrees upon lines parallel to said axis, and forming key openings near the ends of said sections.

5. A process of constructing an integral coupler yoke from forged metal, comprising producing a suitable blank, applying pressure to a portion of said blank intermediate its ends to reduce said portion in width and correspondingly increase it in thickness while forming relatively wide end sections, cutting said end sections inwardly from each end upon the longitudinal center of the blank to form hood sections, spreading said sections outwardly from the longitudinal axis of said blank, bending said sections through substantially ninety degrees upon lines parallel with said axis and forming key openings in said sections, and displacing the metal around one of the openings in each end section to form a flange which is adapted for interlocking engagement with the registering opening in each adjacent section.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of November, A. D.

JOHN W. DALMAN. Witnesses:

JENNIE K. MoLAUeHLIN, ELIZABETH M. RIGNEY 

